Artwork design labor rates

Thats a good question.Im sure there are designers in here that would work with you. Id put a post in the referrals and recommendation part of this forum for a rhinestone designer.
You say you paid an hourly employee to design. If your not forwarding the cost to your customer then your eating it. You should think about a design deposit that will be subtracted off the order total.
For example...
say I contact you and want a quote for a transfer.

You say send me an image so my designers can take a look at it.

I send you the image.

You look at the image and think...
"this is easy, shouldnt take more then a half hour to design".you send me an email with the quote.You state that if I want a designer to send you a proof there is a $20 designer deposit that will be refunded off your order total.
I dont charge for proofs.Im not paying someone to do that so I feel im only loosing time if the order isnt placed.

Leg Cramps -I thought it was standard in the rhinestone business to charge for a template. It's just like charging for digitizing for embroidery or artwork for screen printing. I don't understand why you would give the customer a refund unless it was a large order.
I am interested to hear feed back about how to charge for rhinestone templates.

When a request is made for a quote there is no difference between providing a proof (picture of the rhinestone design) for a template, a car decal, a t-shirt or just the design file. Each one has different time and materials to the process which reflects in the pricing of each.The issue is do you charge to provide that proof or not? I do not... if I don't get the order all im out is my time. A solution to this would be the refundable design fee.
For me Id have to be compensated fairly well. My designs are custom and to sell a template for 30-40 bucks is not acceptable. Now if you were to pay me the 30-40 bucks plus contract in 3%-5% of future sales then we can talk.